What’s the Secret?

 

 

I’m going to let you in on a little secret: making your own bread is actually really easy.

 

 

It can take some time, so it’s a project best for a weekend (unless you work at home!)

 

And this weekend I discovered a secret ingredient that makes for fantastic bread: Soft, slightly sweet inside, with a chewy, but not too crunchy crust. (To be fair, I didn’t discover the ingredient, I found a recipe that used it. Nonetheless, it’s awesome.)

 

What is this ingredient? It’s not glamorous. Or pretty. But it must have some sort of starchy wonder power. Potato water, my friends. Potato water.

 

What’s potato water? The water you boil your potatoes in

 

Last time I cooked potatoes, I drained the water into a plastic bag, and stuck it in the freezer. I let it thaw on Saturday, and made some excellent bread on Sunday. I think I will become a crazy lady who freezes potato water anytime she makes potatoes. It’s that good.

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Not-So-Secret Ingredient Whole-Wheat Bread

Recipe adapted from How to Be A Domestic Goddess

Print this Recipe

 

INGREDIENTS

• 250 g whole wheat flour
• 250 g all-purpose white flour
• 8g instant yeast
• 1/2 T salt
• 300 mL warm potato water
• 1 T canola oil

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine flour, yeast and salt in mixing bowl. Add the water.
2. Turn mixer on to low (with your dough hook in place), and mix until most of the ingredients have been combined.
3. Add the canola oil.
4. Start kneading! In other words, keep mixing until the bread feels smoother and less sticky. Your bread is kneaded once you can make a window with a piece of your dough, like this: If you can stretch the dough so that you can see through it, but without tearing it, you’re good to go!
5. Form the dough into a ball, and place in a greased bowl. (I just rinse out the mixing bowl I was using)
6. Cover and let the dough rise in a warm place for two hours. (A DVR is nice and toasty for the yeast!)
7. Once the dough has double in size, remove from bowl and punch down. Have a blast, it’s fun!
8. Knead the dough (with your hands this time) a little, and form into a loaf shape.
9. Place in a greased loaf pan. Cover with foil and let rise for 1 hour.
10. Preheat the oven to 350*.
11. Make a few small slices with a sharp knife into the top of the risen dough (slice quickly or the knife will stick!)
12. Bake for 40 minutes, or until cooked through. It’s cooked through when you can knock on it, and it sounds hollow.

Enjoy! It will smell so good, you’ll want to try a piece right away

 

 

Want to make an entirely whole wheat loaf? Give it a try and let me know how it goes! Sometimes whole wheat loves can be very dense, so I’m working my way up, and increasing the whole wheat content as I go.

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Tagged as: bread